


Waiting In Vain

by butcherface



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Happy Ending, Homophobia, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, coming to terms with sexuality, i promise this time okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 12:20:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8667442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butcherface/pseuds/butcherface
Summary: Dexter Grif is a bitter 17 year old without a single idea of what he wants to do in his life. He's cynical about everything around him, and completely unprepared to have his perspective changed in the span of a year when Dick fucking Simmons just had to become the light at the end of the damn tunnel.





	

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every confusing and life altering relationship has to start somewhere, right? For Grif, it happened to start in his senior year during his second semester, when he had to do a group project in theater. 
> 
> (Title of story comes from Waiting In Vain by The Story So Far)

“Groups have to be at least three, but no more than five. Go ahead.” Grif froze. He watched as everyone started forming around tables, distinct hoards of friends gathering together. He decided to wait, see if there was a group that still needed somebody else. He squinted his eyes, counting the people at all of the tables…

 

“Dex! Come over here!” Grif’s head snapped towards a table with four people. He knew the one girl from his world history class, everyone else was just other kids that didn’t have anybody else to work with. He sighed and grabbed his bag, moving to sit at the head of the table. 

 

“Yeah, hey. What are we gonna do for this?” He tried to come off as agitated as possible--crossing his arms, leaning away from them, refusing to look anyone in the eye. He would prefer to work alone, but this skit required multiple characters. The girl from his history class--Katie, was it? She was a few years younger than him, that’s all he knew-- looked thoughtful before pulling out a notebook and jotting something down. 

 

“What if we do a comedy sketch? We can be a completely dysfunctional family. It’ll be great.” Grif snorted and nodded. She looked rather excited about the idea, despite it being pretty basic. 

 

“We need roles. And names. I call being the failed comedian!” A boy--a little older than Katie, probably a junior--piped up. Grif nodded and ran a hand through his hair. It was getting rather long, maybe he should cut it. A grin broke out on Katie’s face. 

 

“I can be the overbearing mom! This is my fifth marriage.” She was almost vibrating with excitement at the idea. Grif started playing with his hair again, staring down and avoiding eye contact with anyone. 

 

“I can be the successful doctor,” another girl spoke, a friend of Katie. Grif didn’t know much else about her. She was pretty, curls practically bouncing on her shoulders when she moved. She held a pen to her lips. That was distracting. She chewed on the tip. 

 

“What about names?” the boy spoke again. He leaned heavily on the table. Katie groaned. 

 

“We’re getting there, Palomo!” Palomo was his name, then. Grif sighed and tried to think about names. He went over a list of books and tv shows in his head, twirling a piece of hair around his finger. The other group members were chatting amongst themselves about their roles, Katie jotting down notes. Grif got an idea then, leaning forward on the table. 

 

“Have any of you guys ever watched  _ Dynamo _ ? We could take names from that.” Everyone turned their attention to him. A small voice piped up from the other side of the table. Grif stared at the source, the fourth person in their group. Someone he hadn’t even noticed. 

 

“Yeah, I’ve seen all of it.” He smiled weakly, holding up a hand. Grif’s eyes widened as they skimmed over the boy’s appearance. He was thin, a cheap  _ Star Wars _ shirt hanging loosely off his body. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, which had a clump of freckles on it that became more spread out over his cheeks. Grif sucked in his breath a little bit, feeling his chest tighten. 

 

“Really? Nobody I know has ever even heard of it. It’s my favorite.” The boy smiled at Grif’s response, another small smile. It was more confident this time. He put his hand back down, leaning his arms on the table. His hair was bright orange, a little shaggy but not long enough to do much besides hang in front of his forehead. 

 

He was  _ cute. _ In a completely nerdy way. 

 

“Well, nobody else here has seen it so let’s just make up different names. Dick, you can be the drunk dad!” Dick. Grif couldn’t help himself, letting out a snort. Now he knew the kid’s name. 

 

“My name can be Captain Morgan,” Dick smiled wide at his own joke, sitting up a little bit. “That fits, right?” The rest of the table laughed, and Grif found himself smiling fondly. Turns out Dick was funny, too. Their plans for the skit began to flow together easily. Everybody had a different, warped sense of humor but it linked and worked in hilarious ways. 

 

Grif watched and took notice of every small feature on the other student’s face; his dimples when he was laughing at his own jokes, the slightest raise of eyebrows when he had an idea he was too scared to speak on quite yet. Dick must have been at least a year younger than him, Grif had never even seen him before. 

 

Their group had managed to compile a page of notes and ideas, deciding to work on a script tomorrow. Right as they started to figure out which plot to use, the bell interrupted them. Everyone at the table let out a groan, shoving their notebooks in their bags. Dick was the first to leave, doing everything to get out of that library as fast as he could. 

 

_ Who the hell are you?  _ Grif wondered, watching him speed walk down the hall. Grif let out a huff and turned to everybody else, who were all caught up talking. 

 

“Should we all trade emails?” he offered, pulling his phone out to open up the notes app. Everybody nodded and passed his phone around, typing them all in. “I’ll uh, just get Dick’s tomorrow.” 

 

Katie grinned at him and nodded, handing his device back before exiting the library. Palomo and her other friend--they kept calling her Volleyball, he was pretty sure--followed shortly behind her. Grif left afterwards, going the other direction. 

 

\---

 

“Don’t know a Dick, besides my own. Sorry dude.” Tucker laughed, kicking his feet up on the table. He rolled up another small paper ball, flicking it at Church. Still no reaction. “He’s right there, one table over, you think he would notice.” Grif tore a small piece out of his notebook, rolling it up and throwing it too. Nothing. 

 

“I dunno, he was just so interesting.” Tucker raised an eyebrow at him, pulling his feet off the table. He rolled another ball between his fingers, tossing it at Church again. 

 

“You’ll see him tomorrow, man, don’t worry about it. Get his email then.” Tucker decided to tear a larger piece of paper as he was talking, rolling it efficiently and tossing it at Church’s head, hitting him right in the glasses. 

 

Grif and Tucker were met with a piercing glare from Church, and burst into a fit of laughter. Church shut his binder and checked the clock, noticing it was almost time to leave. 

 

“What the hell are you fuckers doing?” His voice was thick with irritation. Tucker just laughed harder, only to be shushed by the teacher. He tried to keep his giggling down but ended up snorting. 

 

“Church, dude, we’ve been throwing paper balls at you for the past twenty god damn minutes,” Grif wheezed, gripping the table. 

 

“I hate you. Both of you. So much,” he muttered, slipping his binder into his bag and unplugging his charger. Grif managed to calm himself, packing his things away too. He checked the clock, seeing they only had a minute left. Time flies when you’re annoying the shit out of your best friend’s best friend. 

 

Tucker let out a satisfied sigh, sliding his bag over his shoulder. Church was still glaring daggers at them as he put his own bag on, but he still walked with them when the bell rang. 

 

“Hey, Church,” Tucker turned to his friend as they walked out into the hall, taking up most of the space available by walking all next to each other. “You know a Dick? He might be a Junior.” Church furrowed his brow, thinking for a second. 

 

“Nah, don’t think so. Must be younger. Later, fucks.” Church separated from them as they rounded the corner, waving. Tucker shrugged as they walked down the stairs. 

 

“Who is the mysterious Dick?” He wiggled his fingers, making an ‘ooo’ noise as he did so. Grif rolled his eyes and elbowed him. 

 

“I fucking hate you,.” Grif mumbled, stumbling on the last step. Tucker grinned as he turned to go the other way. 

 

“You love me, asshole!” Tucker called, waving behind himself. Grif pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering. He bumped into somebody at their locker, papers flying everywhere. 

 

“Holy shit, I’m so sorry--fuck.” Grif immediately bent down and started picking papers up, stacking them neatly. The person he had ran into just smiled apologetically, taking her papers back. He squinted at her for a second, thinking she looked familiar. The obnoxious sound of the bell yanked him out of his thoughts. “Fuuuuck, I gotta split. Sorry for knocking your stuff everywhere.” 

 

Grif bolted off, arriving into his classroom and thanking whoever was controlling the universe that his teacher hadn’t shown up yet. He slid into his seat and squinted at the board, looking for what he was supposed to do. His eyes widened when he realized, out of nowhere, who that girl was. She was in his theater class. She’d know Dick. He leaned back in his chair and pushed his hair back roughly. 

 

He really would have to wait till tomorrow to see that boy again. It was driving him insane, he’d only talked to him for all of 35 minutes. Yet, he was completely and utterly fascinated with him. 

 

\---

 

Grif clutched his thermos, taking a sip every few minutes as he stared at the computer screen. The loading bar seemed to be stuck on 59% for an hour. The bell that signaled the class to start went off, right as none other than Dick sat down next to him. None of their other group members were anywhere to be found. Grif glanced over at him, seeing how he looked more disheveled than yesterday. 

 

He felt a sting of pity and unscrewed his thermos, holding it out to Dick. He smiled and shook his head. 

 

“Nah, don’t really like coffee. More of a Red Bull or tea drinker,” he explained, quickly typing his login to the computer. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the old machine to load. 

 

“Huh. Alright.” Grif screwed the lid back on and set it down, watching the apps finally load onto the desktop screen. “Hey, I need your email to add you to the script.” He launched the chrome browser, opening a new document to add the group members to. 

 

“Oh, yeah. You just want the school one?” Dick blinked at him, screen still loading. 

 

Grif nodded, “Yeah, that’ll work. Everybody else gave me theirs yesterday but you were out of here like a bat out of hell.” Dick gave an awkward laugh before a reply. 

 

“Oh, sorry, yeah, my next period is on the other side of the school.” Grif smiled at him, hating how much he felt for him. “Uh, anyways, rsimmons19@bgschools.net should work.” Grif started typing the address in, and then froze. 

 

“Oh my god. R? As in, your first name is Richard. Your name is Richard fucking Simmons,” he snickered, staring at the half-typed email in front of him. Dick let out a small groan, and then Grif noticed the 19 staring at him. The numbers meant something, and he was very much surprised by what exactly they meant. “You’re a  _ freshman _ ?” Dick looked confused, it sounded like Grif was accusing him of something. 

 

“Uh, yeah? Why?” Dick leaned forward as his apps started showing up, moving the cursor to launch chrome. Grif sighed, quickly typing the other half of the email. “And please, for the love of god, just call me Simmons. Dick is a stupid nickname.” 

 

“Just--I just thought you were older. That’s all, Simmons. Also, you can call me Grif instead of Dex.” Grif tested out the name, definitely preferring it to Dick. It just suited him more. He looked up as the other three people from their group finally decided to walk over and join them. 

 

“Alright, boys!” Katie said excitedly, “Let’s get to work!” Simmons gave a shy smile to Grif, and Grif felt his chest flutter. It was the worst feeling in the world. 

 

“You heard her, Grif.” 

 

\---

 

The days started to move quickly as the project came along, Grif appreciated his group’s ability to tolerate each other. The script was written easily, and after a couple drafts and Ms. Kimball’s approval, they were ready to work on acting and costumes. Palomo seemed to think they should try and coordinate what they were wearing, but everyone else agreed to just pick something and go with it. 

 

Simmons picked out a lei, a plastic cup, and a party hat for himself. He put the lei and hat on, loosely holding his cup as he wobbled around the prop room yelling nonsense. Grif tried to stop himself from laughing at the stupid gestures, hunting for something to fit his character. 

 

He was supposed to be the terrible son, without a care in the world about anybody or anything around him. Grif supposed he could just wear his own clothes to fill that role, but continued looking anyway. Katie ended up finding a ridiculous looking dress and long gloves, putting them on and shaming her husband for his alcoholism. Volleyball and Palomo couldn’t contain their giggles, watching everybody fuck around as they hunted for their own costumes. 

 

Volleyball was supposed to play a successful doctor, and Palomo a failed stand up comedian. They continued trying on different outfits, each more ridiculous than the last before everyone decided they were satisfied and ready to actually start rehearsing. Katie, Palomo, and Volleyball all left, leaving Simmons and Grif alone. Grif still hadn’t found anything particular that screamed ‘I’m a failure!’. 

 

Simmons held onto his props, flipping through the coats that hung on the rack. Grif peeked over and looked at him, cackling a bit when he saw that Simmons still had the hat on. 

 

“That’s a good look for you, you know,” Grif said. He glanced back down at the shirts in front of him. “Really looks good.” He heart Simmons snort from the other side. 

 

“Yeah, I’m certainly model material. ‘Aggressive Ginger’ is in this year.” Simmons walked over to the isle Grif was in, striking a pose. Grif laughed as Simmons struck other poses, clearly expecting Grif to play along. Grif pretended to hold a camera, snapping pictures. 

 

“Fantastic! Lovely! Perfect!” he said in his best suave voice, before both he and Simmons broke down laughing. “We should get back, shouldn’t we? Everybody’s waiting for us.” Grif took some deep breaths and composed himself before holding the door open, allowing Simmons out first. He followed, making sure the room was locked before following him down the hall. 

 

“Do you think the class is gonna like our skit?” Simmons asked, adjusting his hat. Grif thought for a moment. 

 

“Yeah, it’s fucking hilarious,” he decided, “Especially with your drunk act.” Simmons laughed. 

 

“That’s surprising, I guess I’m a good drunk even though I’ve never had a drink in my fuckin’ life.” 

 

\---

 

Grif tossed his bag next to the door, flipping through the mail. He picked out a few bills and set the rest down next to the lamp. He walked to the kitchen and set the bills on the counter, grabbing a pot and turning on the sink. Ramen noodles was an easy lunch. Maybe he’d cook something for Kai when she got home, or he could make a bigger meal now and save half for her. She’d like some spaghetti, right? 

 

He set the pot on the stove and clicked the burner on, watching the flame come to life. He checked the schedule on the fridge and realized that Kai had softball, so she probably wouldn’t be home until later. Did he have to get her today? Grif couldn’t remember. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapping out a quick text to her. 

 

He went through his notifications, scrolling through all of his blogs and apps. He was halfway through an article about stomach acid and McDonald’s when he realized his water was boiling. He sighed and grabbed a pack of noodles out of the cabinet and dumping them into the water. His phone vibrated with a notification from twitter. 

_ @cyborg2.0 is now following you!  _

 

Grif squinted at his phone, sliding the notification open to see none other than Dick Simmons had just followed him. 

 

“How did he get my twitter?” He muttered, reading some of his recent tweets. Suddenly, his phone started ringing and Kai’s contact took over the screen. He clicked the green button to answer and leaned back against the counter before raising the device to his ear. 

 

\---

 

Ms. Kimball clapped her hands together and scanned over the class. “Alright!” she said. “Who wants to go first? Everybody can get their props and costumes out of the closet!” Half the room raced to the cabinet, one of the theater two students passing everything out accordingly. Grif slipped on his hoodie and looked around, watching his group get everything and offer to go first. 

 

Grif let out a huff and reluctantly rose, moving to the front of the room with his partners. They grabbed chairs and set them up accordingly. Katie sat in the middle, Grif on one end and Simmons on the other. Palomo sat between Katie and Simmons, while Volleyball sat between Grif and Katie. They waited for the rest of the class to fall silent before clearing their throats and beginning. 

 

Grif could feel Simmons glancing at him, but put his head down and stretched his legs out. He had to get into character, after all. Katie started the skit, putting on her best worried face. 

 

“Children, Captain--sweetie, please--we’re gathered here today for an intervention.” Simmons swung his glass around, making some kind of noise. 

 

“Yeah, whatever,” Grif muttered. “I’m gonna sleep.” He leaned his head back against the chair and feigned a snore. 

 

Katie went on to accuse all of them of doing something terribly wrong, with several interruptions from Simmons and unbearably awful jokes from Palomo. Grif made a couple sly remarks and some poor comment about yelp reviews. Their audience thought they were funny enough. Simmons stood up to interrupt one more time, giving a heartwarming speech about the family getting over their difficulties. Katie asked him about it, to which he acted as if it never happened. 

 

It was easy, and flowed nicely together. The rest of the class clapped as they all stood up and bowed. Simmons gave Grif an affectionate clap on the shoulder, accompanied by a smile. Grif tried to brush it off and act annoyed, pulling away. Two weeks ago, he’d have loved nothing more than to get to know Simmons. 

 

Except that, now he was getting along with Simmons, it was scaring the shit out of him. 

 

\---

 

1:30PM

**traffic cone /\:**

hey u said u like red bull right?

 

1:45PM

**irl cyborg:**

Yeah, the green one is really good.

 

1:50PM

**traffic cone /\:**

neat. meet me in the caf in the mornin? u’ll like my friends

 

2:09PM

**irl cyborg:**

Cool! I’ll be there.

 

\---

 

Grif tapped his finger on the table, looking at the doors impatiently. Class would start in ten minutes, and Simmons still hadn’t shown up yet. Tucker and Donut were talking about some show they were watching, completely absorbed in their conversation. Suddenly, a head of orange hair came through the door and Grif pulled a small black bag off the floor. 

 

He could see Simmons scanning the room before he spotted him, waving and walking over. Grif held out a green can of Red Bull, grinning. Simmons looked surprised. 

 

Grif realized right then, as Simmons took the can with a quiet thank you. Grif realized he absolutely had a crush on Dick Simmons. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> waHHHHH hello,, this is my newest project! each chapter will go through a month, and i hope you enjoy it!! comments and kudos are appreciated and keep me writing


End file.
